ACTING & FILM SCHOOL

3D Animation School Student Nicole Saenz

As supervisor of the character design aspect of the group project, my responsibilities included overseeing the development of the main characters involved in the animation, as well as trying to maintain a uniform look within each individual character due to the fact that each artist had his or her own unique artistic interpretation of how everything should look.

I had two other students helping me produce the traditional sketches for the characters. These character included a group of generic civilians, along with the protagonist - the superhero who we decided to name “Justin”. I came up with the concept art for the superhero keeping in mind the fact that we did not want him to fall under the category of a typical superhero. Instead, I wanted him to look as if he could blend into an average group of people which meant that I did not want to incorporate a flashy uniform or a super-toned, buffed body in the design.

Since our story takes place in the future, I wanted to add a few futuristic details, which of course, is apparent within the chest plate and the mechanical arm. The tubes integrated within his attire would act as a transportive system, supplying the source for his immortality. With the final approval of the superhero’s design, Justin was ready to evolve into something a little more three-dimensional.

Superhero Model

Personally, after having the opportunity to try out the main aspects involved in the computer animation pipeline, I have found modeling to be the most enjoyable. This particular model, Justin the Superhero, is the main character in a group project involving the entire animation class. Fortunately, I had the convenience of handling the two-dimensional design, as well the three-dimensional development of the main character. In this manner, I was able to take my concept art, import it into our 3D program (Maya), and begin building the superhero from nothing more than a mere cube.

I primarily used a method called polygonal modeling, and in some cases, I integrated a limited amount of nurbs modeling as well. I had never modeled in Maya before this year, and it proved to be a challenge in the beginning. However, as the year progressed, I felt more comfortable with the program, and decided to give myself more challenging characters to design.

The most difficult part of this model was definitely the mechanical arm. I had only been familiar with organic model up until this project, therefore, producing something of this sort was a new experience. I discovered that attention to detail is crucial when it comes to this type of modeling. Also, making sure that the mesh was clean and unbroken is necessary. At the moment, I am currently working on this model, and it will be coming to a completion soon.

1 Year 3D Animation Student, Nicole Saenz